Thursday Thoughts...

Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals… 

Henri Nouwen

Such an interesting thought, such an interesting notion to explore.

I am always impressed when people consider the absence of things; the emptiness or the space, rather than the thing.  Words without silence become meaningless.  Silent spaces allow the words to be themselves; and for their meaning to be held and understood.  Without those moments of silence, words are blether, a continuation of sounds where you can't capture where one ends and one begins and everything, but everything, is mangled.

That makes intuitive sense to me; but then M. Nouwen take its further and applies the principle to the quietness of listening; and how much it adds to the value of speaking.  Without a listener; perhaps speaking can also become meaningless?

Listening is such a great gift.  It allows us to feel heard, and sometimes that is the main game.  To know that someone spent time and listened to you. Being listened to when you speak can be very very healing.

Silence gives us space and meaning...

Cards and more cards

One of our lovely local shops Maleny Additions has been selling my grief cards of late.  I was asked recently if I had any wedding cards?  Weddings remain big business up our way, so it would probably make sense given that folk often arrive for the weekend and buy the card on the day, so I thought about a few designs...

Aussies will probably get an ear-worm out of these ones!

And this sort of says it all without saying it too loud...

Then I was asked about baby cards - so I had a think about baby cards was well. I trialled smooth and textured paper - will be interesting so see which folk prefer.

And just because I like them, I made some (((hugs))) cards as well.

I am heading to Fibres West in July and will have a stall at the Bazaar there, so thought a bit of stock like this might be worth taking west as well.

Here they are all printed but still waiting to dry, have deckled edge press de-bossed onto their back and be illustrated.

So much production!

Books and more books

I love having a local book shop that knows you.  We often describe the coffee there as the most expensive in town, because we always come away with a book or two each time we have coffee.  Rosettas is a legend in Maleny, and is onto its third main owner (there was a short period in between two owners I recall so I think there have been four all up).

The last owner Anne always knew the sorts of books I would like; and never failed to find them a new home with me. The new owner Jan, seems to also have a sense of things, so I bought Rachel Hazell's  book "Bound" the other day.

Barry said - but can't you do all those bindings?  And I said yes, pretty much, but its nice to see a few ideas and if there's a gem in there it will all be worth while.

One rainy afternoon I sat down to read it from cover to cover, and found myself getting all enthused about making some journals.

I decided that given we are headed back to Scotland for eight weeks later in the year and maybe it would be fun to have a little book fill each week. I decided on the eight books I would try to make and happily whiled away some random moments in the studio making books.

And here they are.

A simple pamphlet stitch but using a ribbon - a good reminder of a simple stitch made a little bit more interesting.

I didn't know this one, and I like it!   The cut outs on the cover hold it together, and appear in the centre pages. I could think about better or different placements, length etc in future ones.

I've done this before but still, I like it - chain of pearls.  Pretty simple and yet rather lovely.

A chain stitch which I also like.

The Turkish Map fold.  This one will be interesting to fill!

The good old make a book from a single sheet of paper book.

This was also a fun one with slits and slots - unfamiliar but definitely worth doing again.

I didn't like the flaps flapping, so I trimmed them down and tucked them inside - much better and tidier.

This was supposed to be single running stitch, but I doubled back and did two runs so to speak (mostly because I did an odd number of holes when I should have done an even number!). You can always make something of your mistakes...

 And all together again. It makes me feel like holidays already just looking at them there. You can see I chose the same ink to decorate the covers - again, following on with suggestions from the book.

All in all, a great little reminder to play, have fun, try a few new things and just enjoy yourself.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Sculptures are paintings that stand on their own”. 

Frank Stella

I love how my Thursdays give me the chance to see something that is familiar, through new and different eyes.  As I have gotten older, I have come to really enjoy and appreciate sculpture.  I like its presence and  its physicality; the chance to move around it; to see different perspectives, angles and shadows.  To see how well something fits into the landscape.

And yet I had never stopped to think go it as being linked to art like this.

A painting that stands on its own!

Perhaps this has its origins in the sense that painting is the ultimate visual art; that it is the beginning and the end of fine art, and so in order to give sculpture some kudos or credit, it gets related to painting.

I think sculpture stands on its own any which way, and I wonder if this is somehow describing the action of taking a drawing in 2D and creating something 3D with it? Or whether it is really saying that sculpture is as good as painting, just independent of walls?

I definitely think sculpture is as good as a painting!

Our art in Melbourne

Barry and I recently attended the Communities in Control Conference - held in Melbourne and run by our favourite social enterprise OurCommunity.

It was a feast of positive thinking and talking, an apology to refugees and calls to action, interspersed by music making and celebration of the arts.

After the first day at the Conference we were able to visit the new office building. We have work-worked alongside this amazing bunch of people for well over a decade, and have strong heart-ties to them and the work they do, so it was wonderful to see the new space.

We knew it would be full of art and it was.  But I caught my breath and had a little tear when I arrived and found one of my collaborative pieces "Endure" (the paper burns but the words fly away...) in pride of place as you enter.

There are some absolute favourites amongst the multitude of pieces and here are a few, sadly I don't know the artists' names, but wouldn't it be great to work in amongst it all?

But it was also precious to see our two recent Conference posters in one of the rooms. On reflection, I think it was a stationery store room - but isn't it lovely to think that everywhere deserves art?  That no matter where we are working, we can raise our eyes and be uplifted?

We happened upon other works of art by Barry as we wended our way through. This one is in the women's loo I think - art is everywhere!

The piece on the left not the bunny!

Seeing my four family violence pieces on the wall, silent sentinels and reminders, was special.

But one of the things I loved most was that each of the meeting rooms was named in honour of a great woman, and on the door is a rallying and empowering quote by them.

This was the theme for the Conference.

Don't be surprised if you find me pondering upon a few of these over time on a Thursday.

It was a heartening few days after feeling heart sick for our country. To see social justice in the hands of good, passionate and caring folk was so good.  And to see organisations that value the arts and understand how invaluable they are to society and put it into action was grand.

Download the CiC app to listen to some thought provoking and inspiring folk.

kindness, care and hope

Barry and I completed the large standing aluminium books for the Compassion exhibition over the weekend.

They are a lovely team effort: with joint design; Barry's skills at managing metal; and my calligraphy.  They come together in a beautifully resolved fashion, showing the wear and tear of the salvaged aluminium as well. You can see more about the process (and our hi-tech approach to it grin) over here at Barry's blog.

Each cover has this image on it - referencing for us the threeness of the books, and based on an African concept of Ubuntu. It has many meanings and definitions, yet Archbishop Desmond Tutu described it thus:

"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed".

And for us, the notion encompassed how we felt about these books; the spirit we hope is imbued in them.

This image taken of a cover with the rivets to the left, and before being bent/opened.

I love how elements of the cover design have etched...

And the calligraphy on the inside page is quiet, yet somehow beautiful. Again with three dots repeated as a motif.

 Peeking inside the book of care...

And sitting on our car turning circle deck...

Where they clearly can't stay because of cars needing to turn and all!

They are made to be outdoor sculptures and we hope they stand the test of time wherever they finish up.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Books are like people. Some look deceptively attractive from a distance, some deceptively unappealing; some are easy company, some demand hard work that isn’t guaranteed to pay off. Some become friends and stay friends for life. Some change in our absence – or perhaps its we who change in theirs – and we meet up again only to find that we don’t get along any more”. 

Mark Haddon

I'm not one who likes anthropomorphisising much - and I probably shouldn't get too much into trying to consider books like people either; but given that Mark Haddon does just that, perhaps there is a word for it.

His descriptions are spot on and I can recall books that meet nearly all of his personality types and descriptions. A couple that spring to mind:

Deceptively Attractive - Less
Deceptively Unappealing - The Rules of Backyard Cricket
Easy Company - An Uncommon Reader
Hard work with no guarantee - A Little Life (but it delivered)
Friends for Life - Pollyanna and Anne of Green Gables
Changed in our absence - World Enough and Time

I certainly find books companionable and good companions, so perhaps I really am into personifying or humanising them.  Food for further thought!